New Delhi, Sat Aug 01 2009
The Supreme Court on Friday took a tough stance on encroachment of public places, and asked the Centre to ensure that no place of worship is constructed or built on public land.
The directive came during the hearing of an appeal filed by the Centre challenging a Gujarat High Court order of 2006 directing municipal authorities in Ahmedabad to demolish all illegal structures including places of worship occupying public roads and spaces. The illegal structures targeted by the Modi government included some temples too. But after communal violence hit Vadodara following the demolition of a dargah and the Army had to stage a flag march, the Centre rushed to the apex court seeking a stay of the HC order.
The Centre said while it was not supporting illegal structures occupying public land, it was concerned about the security of the citizens and the law and order problem arising as result of the demolition of religious structures. It said that if the HC order was not stayed, it would have serious ramifications on the unity, integrity and security of the nation and its secular fabric. Incidentally, the Centre was not a respondent before the High Court, but had, nevertheless, appealed to the apex court, which later stayed the impugned order.
Apprehending law and order problem if existing places of worship were demolished the bench too, while hearing the matter on Friday, said that no new place of worship should come up on public space.
"As far as existing religious institutions are concerned, we can understand that demolishing them will create law and order problem, but the Centre must ensure that no religious place comes up in future on public places," the bench comprising justices Dalveer Bhandari and M K Sharma said.
The court said the Centre must take steps to build a consensus on evolving a mechanism to deal with such encroachments. “Let us find a solution where we could stop any new temple or mosque or any religious place of worship from coming up on public space, street or land,” the bench added.
After being informed by Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium that the government is already pursuing the issue and following it up with the states and UTs for building a consensus, the bench sought for a detailed response within four weeks.
"The Solicitor General shall file an affidavit to ensure that no temple, church, mosque or gurudwara is constructed on a public street or a public space,” the court said, as it posted the matter for further directions on September 29. The bench further said: “Even if a single institution comes up on public place, the officers concerned would be suitably punished.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ensure-no-place-of-worship-is-built-on-public-land-sc/496726/0
No comments:
Post a Comment